


When the Darkness Rolls Away

by FrogoftheUniverse



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Also Brief Glimmer/Catra, F/F, Found Family, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, Inept Romance, Mild Gore, Minor Character Death, POV Alternating, Panic Attacks, Platonic Cuddling, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Redemption, Sharing a Bed, Some (Temporary!) Major Character Death, Trans Glimmer, Unreliable Narrator, title from a kate wolf song
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-10-20 03:52:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17614919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrogoftheUniverse/pseuds/FrogoftheUniverse
Summary: Concerning the defeat of the Horde and the events thereafter, as told by a certain dashing ex-Horde member and her idiot golden retriever, who unfortunately has manifested in a human body without possessing any sense of self-preservation, and frankly very little sense in general.Or,Concerning the rise of the Rebellion and the events thereafter, as told by a noble yet humble servant of the people, and her idiot cat, who only ever leaves when she is told to stay and stays when she is told to leave.





	1. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter summary: Following the Battle of Bright Moon, the Princess Alliance discusses strategy. Adora makes an effort to move on, and the Rebellion gets some unexpected help.

The morning after the Battle of Bright Moon, Adora is more exhausted than she's ever been, and she feels like her body is one solid bruise. Thanks to the powers of She-Ra, her injuries already look like they are several days old, but they definitely have not vanished all together. Especially not after a night of sleeping on the floor of the great hall, which is where the Princess Alliance gathered after a precursory survey of injuries and damages. Thankfully, the worst hurt was Adora herself. Queen Angella had provided the alliance members with bedding, and it had been extremely comforting to sleep in a group of allies, Adora has to admit.

They breakfast together in the morning. The food is hearty, though far simpler than what the Bright Moon castle’s chiefs usually aspire to. Adora revives a little with the help of an omelette and a bowl of steamed rice. Feeling better, she also heaps a spread of the different jams available into a toast sandwich, which contrary to what Bow says, is a thing because she just invented it. Glimmer doesn’t finish all of her oatmeal, so Adora adds some more jam and eats that too. 

Afterwards, Glimmer insisted on a general meeting. She directs everyone to the meeting chamber, and to their awaiting seats. 

“Thank you for gathering here. I want to thank each and every one of you for coming to Bright Moon’s aid yesterday. Without your help, we would have fallen,” Glimmer says, and pauses solemnly. “Now that we are allied together, we are so much stronger than before. We really have a chance to end this war. To win it. Together, we can finally put a stop to Hordak’s evil reign.”

As Glimmer pauses again, the princesses cheer and Bow jumps up with enthusiasm.

“The Princess Alliance is going to win with the power of friendship!” he grins. Adora can’t help smiling back at him.

“We’re going to discuss what went wrong in the battle, and what went right. Now that we are working together, we can develop strategies,” Glimmer continues.

“The Horde officers are too powerful on their own,” Bow says grimly. “When we come up against them in single combat we lose too often. When I ran into Scorpia at the Princess Ball I didn't have a chance.”

“Even She-Ra could barely take on Catra,” Adora says glumly. “Training is one thing, and it will help. But She-Ra just isn’t built for certain kinds of fighting. She’s good at fighting tanks, things that are her size or bigger. In hand-to-hand she can be outmaneuvered.”

“So, like, let’s stop letting them fight us one-on-one,” Mermista says.

“We could fight them in groups! Put together, we can take any one of them down!” Bow exclaims.

“So you think we should gang up on them?” Glimmer asks.

“No, I think we should use our strengths. They’re the aggressors, why should we fight them on their terms? If we have a way to take them down, we should do that,” Bow says firmly.

“Maybe we can lure them away one by one and capture them like they did to you and Glimmer,” Mermista says. “How good are their troops at fighting without them?”

“That's a good point,” Adora says. “Not all of the troops are very good at fighting on their own. Normally, the force captain gives their set of troops a set of battle plans before a fight. The plans will have been previously rehearsed in simulations and will only have a little flexibility. Any major change of tactics has to be signaled by the captain, and without a captain the troops have to rely on their individual hierarchies. There really isn't a way for troops to command each other beyond that.”

“So, if we take out the force captain, the troops will stop acting together and will only fight as individual units?” Frosta asks.

“Yes, exactly! Well, I mean sometimes multiple force captains go out on raids, so it might not work every time. But force captains are encouraged to lead the charge, so it should be possible to get them isolated enough to be taken out,” Adora says.

“How hard is it for the Horde to replace force captains?” Queen Angella speaks for the first time, and Adora looks over. Queen Angella had been observing the discussion from her throne, apparently with more interest than Adora had originally thought.

“It isn’t impossible, although training does take time. Catra took over my position really quickly, but before me there had been a missing force captain for over a year,” Adora frowns a little. “Honestly Catra should have taken that position much earlier. She’s everything the Horde wants in officers, except that Shadow Weaver hated her so much.”

“Okay, so this is good,” Glimmer says brightly. “Let’s make a list the Horde officers, and then we can make plans for how to isolate them and take them down in a fight.”

“What will we do with them? Are we going to have to keep them as prisoners?” Perfuma asks. 

“We don’t have very many secure places to keep prisoners,” says Queen Angella. “Especially not with all the damage Bright Moon has received. I am worried we won’t have enough intact rooms to house our own people.”

“We could throw them on an island in the Kingdom of Salineas,” Mermista offers.

“That’s true! But we’d have to feed them, and make sure they don’t escape,” Perfuma says.

“It’s too bad we don’t have a Horde prison,” says Bow. “That was really secure. I only got out because my guard was, like, desperately lonely.” 

“Then maybe it’s time we get a Horde prison,” Glimmer says. She stands up and pulls out a map from a drawer by her chair. Adora blinks and leans back to examine the table in front of her. She has a drawer too, although all it contains is a very dusty tin of lemon candies. Huh. Meanwhile, Glimmer has drawn some sweeping lines over the paper. “This is a map of Bright Moon and the surrounding kingdoms. Bow and I have been updating it to show the Horde’s movements.”

“I knew this would come in handy someday!” Bow says, and leans over to high-five Glimmer.  
Glimmer smiles, pleased, then says, “As you can see, the Fright Zone is large and well protected. However, beyond its territories, the Horde has developed smaller forts that it uses to take over more areas. Here are several to the south, threatening Spinnerella and Netossa’s land. And here is the fort in the Whispering Woods that they were using to poison you, Perfuma!”

“It’s still there. My scouts have been reporting they are working to rebuild,” Perfuma frowns.

“I hope they are, because we are going to use it! It’s isolated enough from the rest of the Horde that we can surround it and take it over,” Glimmer says, waving her arms. “We’ll put a stop to the threat to Perfuma’s lands, and we’ll be able to repair the damages to the land they’ve been causing, and we’ll have a place to store our prisoners.”

“You want to take over one of the Horde’s forts? Absolutely not young lady! It’s one thing to defend our home, but we cannot risk our lives to go off and start more fights,” Queen Angella snaps. 

“That attitude is why we’ve been doing nothing but lose ground for twenty years!” Glimmer snaps back. “This war has been going on since before I was born. We have to put an end to it. Now is our chance to finally strike back.”

“It will be much safer than what we were doing before,” Bow says helpfully. “We can use the Princess Alliance to overwhelm their forces. And then we’ll use She-Ra to beat down their doors! Right, Adora?”

Adora hastily swallows her mouthful of incredibly sour candy and tries to look resolute. “Queen Angella, Bow and Glimmer are right. The Horde relies on the Rebellion’s caution. They know we fight back against direct threats, but we don’t do enough to stop slower territory grabs.”

“I also think Glimmer is right, Queen Angella,” Frosta seconds. “One of the reasons I hesitated to join the Rebellion was that it seemed like very little was getting done. But now I’ve seen first-hand that the Horde is far more powerful than I thought. We have to take action.”

“You are a child,” Queen Angella begins, but Frosta cuts her off.

“I am the sovereign ruler of the largest kingdom in this alliance,” she says icily.

“Mom, I know you are worried about us. I understand you don’t want us to take more risks than we have to. But can’t you see that the only reason Bright Moon is still here today is because Adora, Bow and I took the risk of rebuilding the Princess Alliance? We have to take some risks, or we won’t survive anyways,” Glimmer says. 

Queen Angella sighs and bows her head. “Very well, Glimmer. I trust that you will be as careful as you can be, and I want to hear a very detailed report on how you will conduct the raid.”

“Thank you! We won’t let you down!” Glimmer jumps up to hug Angella. Then she turns back a little sheepishly to the watching princesses and claps her hands. “Okay, time to discuss some strategies.”

They spend the rest of the morning discussing which Horde officers to target, and how to capture the fort in Perfuma’s lands. Glimmer is also concerned about the forts threatening Netossa and Spinnerella, but they decide that they can afford to wait a little longer before addressing them. 

By lunch the gathered princesses have made huge progress. Sea-Hawk, who had declined an invitation to the meeting, reappears to perform his newly composed Ballad of the Battle of Bright Moon, much to Mermista’s dismay. The meal is hearty again, and the company is cheerful. As they prepare to return to their own lands, the visiting princesses agree to meet up again soon.

After waving goodbye to the last princess, Adora wanders out to one of the courtyard gardens with Glimmer and Bow. They find a bench in front of a small pond, and Adora stares down at the fish darting through the water. She isn’t sure she’ll ever get used to the ornamentation of Bright Moon. All these little monuments to beauty and life. She has to keep it safe for that alone.

Glimmer softly touches Adora’s cheek, where the claw marks have closed up but are still an angry red. “Are you sure you’re okay, Adora?”

“All the cuts have closed, and I think they’ll fade in a few weeks,” Adora says.

“Okay, but are you okay?” Bow says.

Adora stops hedging. “I just have to accept that she’s really gone. And I don’t think I should fight her anymore. Apart from how much faster she is, she’s too good at manipulating me. And I spend the whole time worried I’m going to hurt her too badly, which is something she obviously doesn’t care about for me.”

“I think you’re right. Next time, you should stay with the main party and not let her lead you off. Bow and I can fight her, or another group.” Glimmer wraps a comforting arm around Adora, and Bow leans in on her other side.

“I know it’s silly of me, but can you promise you won’t hurt her more than you have to?” Adora says.

“It isn’t silly,” Bow says, “she was your best friend for your entire life. Of course you don’t want her to get hurt.”

“I can’t promise that I won’t hurt her. And if it’s between Catra and one of our allies, I’m going to choose the people on our side every time. But yeah, I’ll try to make sure nothing too bad happens to her,” Glimmer concedes.

“Thank you,” Adora says. They sit in silence for a little while, enjoying the late afternoon sun. Glimmer nestles her head against Adora’s shoulder, and Adora and Bow lean their heads together. It’s perhaps the most peace Adora has ever known.

“So, what’s next for us?” Bow asks at last, and Adora opens her eyes. 

“I think we have to make a move on the Horde fort soon. If we wait too long, the Horde will come after us again, and we’ll get bogged down,” Glimmer says.

“I need to go back to the temple of Light Hope. I want to train, and I need to learn more about She-Ra,” Adora says. “That way when we do attack, I can be ready.” She straightens, the moment of rest gone. It’s time to let go of the past.

*** 

The next day Adora heads out of the castle early and cajoles Swift Wind into flying her to the temple. She summons the spectre of Light Hope and follows its guide on meditation and a series of slow but surprisingly difficult exercises. She is meant to empty her mind and focus only on the movement, which is a relief. It’s frustrating to be stuck doing what Adora recognizes as the very basics of a training regimen, but training is one thing she’s good at. She’s always been able to focus in on physical work, and she’s glad of a challenge she can meet with confidence.

By the time Adora returns to the castle it’s grown dark.

Bow bounces up to greet her. “Adora, you’ll never guess who came while you were gone!”

Bow leads Adora inside to the hall, wherein a familiar trio is speaking to Glimmer and Queen Angella. It's the servants from the castle of Dryl. Adora is happy to see them, in theory, but welling up in her throat is a surge of helpless guilt. It was her poor planning that got Entrapta killed, and now these poor people are leaderless and likely needing defense from the Horde.

“Before you showed up, we felt helpless. We were trapped in our own castle and we just wanted to escape,” the busgirl is saying. Adora’s guilty stewing intensifies.

“But Bow taught us you don’t have to be a magical princess to be able to fight back! We defeated the evil robots, and we can help defeat the evil Horde too!” Soda Pop continues.

“We’re here to avenge our princess. The Kingdom of Dryl is not going to stand by and let Etheria fall to Hordak!” Batterette the Baker finishes. Adora considers Batterette’s rather bloodthirsty expression and realizes she has misjudged them. 

“Magic isn’t the only way to fight this war! The people of Dryl are brave and resourceful. They could give us a huge advantage against the Horde,” Bow says, beaming. 

“You are placing yourselves at great risk, as I am sure you already know. If you are sure of your purpose, then we are honored by your decision to join us,” Queen Angella says formally. Behind her, Glimmer looks relieved. Angella continues, “Bow, I understand you were quite successful in organizing your forces while my daughter was courting death by robot.” Glimmer’s relief blanches off her face, and she and Adora shared a grimace. Adora had thought they had kept most of that disaster away from Angella, but apparently the queen has informants.

“They did all the work, I just pointed them in the right direction,” Bow says.

“Bow was amazing! His quick thinking saved all of us,” Glimmer says, drawn out of denying the incident by the chance to praise her friend. Adora nods in agreement with the Dryl delegation.

“Then perhaps, Bow, you would be interested in commanding the Rebellion’s new civilian recruits?” Angella asks.  
Bow, flustered, looks to the Dryl trio. “Would you want me to be your leader?”

“You’re the reason we’re here, Bow. We would love you to lead us!” Soda Pop exclaims.

“Bow the general!” Glimmer says grandly and sweeps him into a hug. Adora grins at the pair. The Rebellion really is doing something after all its years of retreat.


	2. Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Horde reacts sluggishly to the newly restructured Rebellion. Catra is forced to juggle food shortages with troop training, and still find time to watch out for her allies. There’s a limit to how much one person can do.

Catra must have left Scorpia and Entrapta alone for too long, because they’ve somehow hatched a ridiculous scheme to celebrate her promotion to second in command. Catra is not in the mood for celebrations, needless to say. She has troops to train, meetings to attend, and, idiotically, paperwork to file. Catra is certain that Shadow Weaver never touched any of these documents. Which…does actually explain some things, like the occasional food shortages and the ease of which equipment can be liberated from its intended purpose. 

Because Catra is actually a competent leader and capable of doing something other than creepily lurking in hallways in wait of child trainees to terrorize, unfortunately the paperwork is something she can’t just ignore. She’s been working on the supply forecasts. Someone has to determine how many raids they need to conduct to feed the Horde through the winter, which is fast approaching. They’re already behind, thanks to the botched attempt to rescue Adora from Thaymor. The village had originally been scheduled for a raid. Thanks to Adora’s interference, the people are on guard now, and much of their food reserves were lost to fire during the battle anyways.

All this means that Catra is currently immersed in planning a new attack, and she’s having difficulties calculating the size of force to send out with Scorpia and Entrapta chattering away behind her.

“Catra, it’s time for our dinner party!” Entrapta sings out. She’s been particularly excited about whatever this is.

“Just a minute,” Catra says. 

“Catra, you’ve been saying that for the last twenty minutes,” Scorpia whines, and Catra sighs heavily.

“Ugh, fine,” She says, and swivels her chair to face them. She had tuned out the explanation of what exactly a dinner party is, so she is very displeased to find her two idiot sidekicks are both wearing pointy paper hats, like the dunces they are. Scorpia descends immediately to crown Catra with her own hat. It’s held in place with the aid of some knotted rubber bands. Catra narrowly resists the urge to tear it off, and stomps over to sit at the table. Entrapta is looking very excited, and Catra supposes that princesses need some pampering to keep them in check.

The table has been dragged into the center of the room and covered in a bedsheet. There are four place settings. One each for Catra, Scorpia and Entrapta, and one for Entrapta’s current favorite robot. This is obviously going to be incredibly stupid. 

“To the new second-in-command of the Horde!” Scorpia cheers, and she and Entrapta clash their mugs together with undue enthusiasm. Despite herself, Catra is a little touched. It is nice to be recognized. 

“Yeah, whatever,” Catra says out loud, and hides her smile by taking a drink. What she took to be water is not actually water, and she spits it back out immediately. “Argh, what is this?”

“It’s my sucrose infused carbonated beverage prototype!” Entrapta chirps.

“Why is it so fizzy? And salty?” Catra makes a face.

“That’s the carbonation! It’s a fascinating process in which you take a mineralized form of carbon dioxide, normally a gas at ambient temperatures, and dissolve it in water,” Entrapta says, making Catra regret asking. “The saltiness is because I haven’t found the correct mineral compound to use. But I added extra sugar to make up for that.”

“It’s certainly something,” Catra says.

“I love it! It makes my mouth feel funny!” Scorpia says, and Entrapta’s hair recovers from its slow wilt. Oops, maybe Catra should be a little nicer. After all, it’s important strategically to keep Entrapta happy here.

The meal is served via more robots. They take turns bringing out courses of what Catra recognizes as rations stolen from the cafeteria and rearranged on the plates. Catra’s favorite is the rehydrated mashed potato cat face, which even has green bean whiskers. It’s as goofy as Catra thought it would be, but despite herself she enjoys it.

The final course is something that Scorpia herself brings out triumphantly. Somehow her or Entrapta managed to find an entire unopened jar of peaches, an extremely rare delicacy in the Horde. Catra has to tamp down her sudden melancholy. Adora had a huge sweet tooth growing up, and she had loved any kind of canned fruit. Catra used to pretend that cat people like her had different taste buds and didn’t like fruit so that she could give her servings to Adora the few times it was offered.

It’s bittersweet to be eating the peaches now without Adora by her side, and Catra is acutely grateful for the company she does have. She tries her best to thank Entrapta and Scorpia for the meal. Despite her evasions and grumbling, she can tell that they see through her and are pleased with the success of the dinner party.

*** 

A few days later, Catra’s raid is ready for launch. She has three battalions marching to the south towards a farming community that should be an easy target. The area is falsely claimed by Princess Netossa and has repeatedly refused to lawfully pay tithe to the Horde. It’s like they’ve been asking to be attacked. The only risk is that the insurgent princesses might be able to rally a counterattack if they get word in time. Catra is trying to move her units along quickly, but she isn’t hugely concerned. The Rebellion is notoriously slow at responding to things like this, and their fighting style is markedly disorganized, if there is one at all. And, one of the battalions is an extra, along for the ride just to make sure this mission can’t go wrong.

Catra has honestly been looking forward to fighting She-Ra again, anyways. Last time, she almost had her beat, and Catra’s been spending a lot of time thinking about how to improve. She also kind of wants to see for herself that She-Ra is okay, and all healed up. Very privately, Catra has been struggling with the sense that she took it a little far when she clawed up She-Ra’s back. 

Out in the rebel territories, the light is bright and harsh. It makes Catra squint and her eyes water unpleasantly. It also feels unbelievably warm and soothing, and a part of her is whining desperately to find a seclude place to bask in the sun. Catra squashes that part of her like the useless insect it is. She makes a point to stay out of the shadows so that her troops can see her, and for no other reason.

They come upon the village fields without incident, but there is a band of farmers waiting to meet them in the road. Subtlety really isn’t the Horde’s strong point. Some scouts must have spotted them during the march. They must have already called for help, so Catra needs to move quickly.

“Stand down and move aside,” Catra orders. “This land is under the proper ownership of Lord Hordak, and we have come to claim payment for your use.”

“This is our land, not yours! You’re nothing but a band of thieves!” The man shouting this is in the back, and Catra makes note of his face.

“Please officer, see reason. We barely have enough to keep ourselves through the winter. We don’t have anything to give as payment,” says a woman, possibly the chief from her robes. 

“You could have paid a tenth of your stores, as is the law by Lord Hordak, but now you’re going to pay half,” Catra says coldly. “Let us pass before you pay with your lives as well.”

Two of the farmers rush Catra anyways. She slams her foot up and into the man’s jaw, then whirls and sucker punches the woman. Despite what she said she doesn’t have any intention of killing any of them. The Horde unit behind her surges forward and tosses some of the remaining villagers aside and the rest break and flee. 

Catra leads on to the village proper and directs her units off to the different storehouses. The villagers are lining the streets, watching them with grim faces, but they don’t make any move to resist so Catra ignores them. She picks a likely-looking structure for herself and waves over some troops.

The soldiers kick open the barn door and Catra strides in. As her eyes adjust to the dim light she pauses. There are more villagers hiding in here- a group of elderly men and women, and some children. A few of the older children are holding pitchforks and they level them at Catra defiantly. 

“Don’t make this harder than it has to be. We’re here for the food- stay out of the way and you won’t get hurt,” Catra warns.

“If you take our food you take our ability to survive the winter,” says one of the old women, and she spits on the dirt in front of Catra defiantly.

“I’m sure your precious princesses will provide for you,” Catra sneers to buy time. Her mind is racing. She really doesn’t want to have to hit this ancient fool, but her soldiers are right behind her and she can’t afford to show any weakness either. Why can’t these people just do what they’re told?

Luckily, at that moment a soldier runs up. Well, not luckily, just conveniently.

“Officer Catra, the Rebellion forces have been spotted!”

“What, already?” Catra snarls, and whirls gratefully out of the barn.

She runs to the troops guarding the outskirts of the buildings, just in time for the Rebellion to descend. She’s immediately taken aback by how many of them there are. Since when do the Rebellion militias actually rally in time to do anything? And since when do they look like they might honestly have some idea of what to do?

Catra shoves away her confusion for later and focuses. She needs to distract the magic users and trust her soldiers to handle the rest. Right on time, her golden joke of an ex-best friend is coming towards her. 

“Hey, Adora,” Catra says immediately, but She-Ra doesn’t even look in her direction. Instead, she sprints off towards the tanks menacing the grain tower. Catra frowns and starts to follow and is caught by a gust of wind. A very strong gust of wind. It tosses her up in the air and she barely lands back down on her feet. Ugh, it’s Princess Spinnerella. Catra recognizes her from her attack on Bright Moon. 

Catra launches herself at the princess and seizes her by the cape-like thing she was stupid enough to wear into a fight. She gets pelted with several weird objects that drench her in some strange liquid, but she doesn’t let go. Spinnerella struggles to summon more wind as Catra drags her down. Catra is just about to pounce when someone else slams into her. 

Princess Netossa throws her back and quickly casts some sort of protective shield, giving Spinnerella time to get back to her feet. Catra wipes away some of the liquid from her face. It’s sticky, which is odd. She tastes it. It’s some sort of sucrose infused carbonated beverage, if Catra is not mistaken. What the heck? Who is out there throwing sucrose infused carbonated beverages at her?

Spinnerella and Netossa take advantage of her distraction to escape. Catra looks around to assess the battle. The first battalion has done a good job of holding off the rebels while the second and third load supplies onto the transports. They probably haven’t met their goals yet, but Catra decides it would be better to retreat now than wait and give the rebels the chance to break their lines.

Catra signals the general retreat, and the outer units rally to her, forming a wedge to push through the battle and get back on the road to the Fright Zone. The Rebellion fighters don’t try to pursue them, which is just as well. Catra’s forces are bring back a number of wounded along with the supplies. She was not expecting to meet with nearly that much resistance. If she hadn’t been paranoid enough to bring the third battalion, that could have easily become a rout. It seems as though the Rebellion is actually starting to show some spine, and if that’s so, the Horde is going to have a lot of complacency to let go of.

After dismissing the troops Catra goes back to her room to pace. She can’t shake the faces of the children in the barn from her mind. They really were going to try to fight back, and Catra doesn’t know what she would have done if the Rebellion hadn’t chosen that exact moment to attack. She should have been prepared for the reality of the raid, but even knowing what to expect Catra had felt an agonizing doubt. Her firm reminders that her soldiers have to eat is not enough to lift the weight in her stomach.

She needs something to distract herself. She can’t voice any of what she is thinking out loud: Hordak’s spies are everywhere. But maybe company is still what she needs. After a few false starts, Catra wanders back out into the halls. She finds Scorpia in her rooms, sitting at her desk with reports scattered everywhere. She looks like she’s been working hard, and therefore it’s about time for her to take a break.

Catra climbs up on the desk and sprawls across Scorpia’s workspace, wiggling her back on the edge of the keyboard to scratch an itch. Scorpia grins down at her, undeterred. The fact that she isn’t annoyed is kind of annoying actually.

“Well aren’t you cute,” Scorpia coos, and Catra narrows her eyes. Scorpia reaches over, presumably to pat Catra’s stomach. Catra springs into action and seizes the claw, kicking with her back feet and biting at the carapace. Scorpia freezes but continues to look amused. “Look at your sharp little teeth!”

Catra scowls fiercely and bits down harder. It’s a good thing, because at that moment, Scorpia chooses to lift her arm, Catra and all, up off the desk. Which is probably the kind of thing that people who aren’t Catra find impressive. Scorpia sweeps Catra into her lap, and Catra lets out an embarrassing squeak. She squirms around vigorously but doesn’t actually try to escape, and she winds up folded in a ball with Scorpia’s arm draped around her. 

Scorpia looks down at her but for once, mercifully doesn’t say anything. Catra chews a little more at the tip of Scorpia’s pincher and then, feeling slightly remorseful, licks it apologetically. Scorpia laughs a little and makes a weird twisting shrug with her free arm. Catra is shocked to watch the lower carapace fall entirely off, and Scorpia is left with a human forearm and hand.

“You can take off your claws?” Catra exclaims.

“Yes of course! They’re magical artifacts that have been passed down in my family for generations,” Scorpia says.

“I thought they were part of your body!”

“How would I be able to get dressed if all I had were the claws?” Scorpia says. “I don’t take them off in public, but I do take them off.”

Catra considers the ramifications of this while Scorpia uses her newly freed hand to scritch at Catra’s ears. It’s very difficult, because Catra is loving the massage and because she doesn’t understand Scorpia very well, but she thinks that this is a significant display of trust for Scorpia. 

“What about your tail?” Catra asks, waving her own lazily in the air.

“The tail I was hatched with!” Scorpia says.

Catra hums, satisfied, and allows herself to relax. Scorpia keeps her clawed arm wrapped firmly around Catra and alternates the other between stroking Catra’s head and turning pages of her reports. It is exceedingly nice, and it does a lot to soothe the ache in her heart over the raid.

*** 

Catra has to make a formal report the next day, to a full council of all the force captains and Hordak. Nothing good ever lasts, so of course Hordak has already trotted Shadow Weaver back out. At least she has been severely reprimanded, and her demotion to Catra has been made clear to her. It doesn’t make it that much easier to sit at the same table with her, but it makes it tolerable. Just barely. Catra is seated on Hordak’s right side, and that helps a little too.

“Despite the Rebellion interference, we were still about to carry off eighty percent of what our goals were for the raid,” Catra says. “However, I think that we need to seriously address the changes the rebels have made. Their numbers have grown, and they are demonstrating far more planning and organizational ability than they have in the past.”

“The rebels are either peace-loving villagers or out-of-touch royalty. Just because they’ve had a boost in confidence lately doesn’t mean they aren’t any less soft and weak than before,” Octavia says dismissively.

“The She-Ra has certainly inspired them. She has undone much of our work to stamp out their resistance entirely,” Hordak says.

“If we take her out it would be most discouraging for the rebel scum,” Dylamug grates in his strange artificial voice.

“Haven’t we wasted enough time chasing after She-Ra? She’s been smart enough to wiggle away every time. I think we need to focus on the bigger picture,” Catra says, frustrated.

“She-Ra is a _dumb beast_ ,” Shadow Weaver hisses. Catra recoils the tiniest bit at the venom in her voice. “If we capture her, I will subdue her, and then she will fight for us.”

Catra reminds herself forcibly to keep her own interests in mind. “What, so you still want to replace me with Adora? Do you really think she’ll make a better officer than me?”

“Adora lost that chance long ago,” Hordak says coldly. “I see no reason why we would allow her to rejoin us so easily.”

“She won’t have a choice,” Shadow Weaver says. “I can use the powers of the Black Garnet to crush her will. She’ll be nothing more than a puppet to us. I imagine the Rebellion won’t enjoy having their precious She-Ra fighting against them.”

“Yes, that’s very good. If we’re lucky, they might even kill her for us,” Hordak says, and he throws back his head to laugh at the thought of it. Catra pastes a smile on her face as the other officers cheer. She doesn’t understand why they can’t let go of Adora. The Princess Alliance has reformed, and the changes that they have made go well beyond She-Ra’s influence. Catra is furious they won’t listen to her, which almost covers up how sick she feels at the thought of fighting alongside an empty, mind-controlled Adora. 

The meeting stretches on for quite a bit longer, but Catra tunes much of it out. Save for Scorpia, none of the others are interested in Catra’s supply projections, and Catra doesn’t feel up to making a case for more raiding anyways. Scorpia is also unfortunately not the best ally to have. While she is technically right in the middle of the of the ranks, her word is seldom given much weight. One of the disadvantages associated with being royalty, Catra supposes. 

Another disadvantage to Scorpia’s princess title is that she often gets the inglorious tasks no other officer will willingly take on. Which is why less than a week later, she is sent off to finish the clean up job at the northern Whispering Woods outpost. Catra goes a little stir crazy after only a few days without Scorpia’s company. Entrapta isn’t the greatest companion for Catra at the best of times, and Catra dislikes how much work it is to hang out with her. It’s hard to be friends with someone you have to constantly manipulate and mislead to keep on your side. 

Catra had been a little surprised at how little it took to distract Entrapta into working for the Horde, and she is genuinely angry on Entrapta’s behalf at how easily the Princess Alliance abandoned her. But she can’t help being constantly aware that Entrapta’s values are distinct from the Horde’s, and that Entrapta could easily be swayed back to the Rebellion, given the wrong train of thought. 

In lieu of anything better to do, Catra has been putting a lot of hours in with the training sims. She’s posted quite a few new records, and she’s issued a challenge for any of her soldiers to best them, either singly or as a unit. No one has managed yet, which is a shame because Catra would actually like to be able to give out the rewards of better meals and increased leisure time. Catra is there late in the afternoon one day when Octavia finds her.

“Oy, furball!” A rude voice interrupts Catra’s latest challenge, and she pauses the sim with great reluctance. 

“What do you want, Octavia?” Catra says after identifying the intruder.

“Report just came in from the Whispering Woods.” Octavia says causally.

“So, what?”

“So, isn’t that where your girlfriend is posted?” Octavia grins.

“Who, Scorpia?” Catra frowns.

“Yeah, our very own pet princess. Guess you have a thing for those royal types, huh?”

“Scorpia isn’t my girlfriend,” Catra says flatly. “Do you have a point to all this, or are you just here to waste my time?”

“Well, word is, the fort is under attack and your girlfriend had to call for help because she couldn’t handle a few rebels on her own,” Octavia says.

“Fuck! Why didn’t you say that first?” Catra doesn’t wait around for an answer. She sprints down the halls, shouting orders at any soldiers she passes.

By the time Catra is able to scramble out fliers nearly an hour has passed since the initial report. Catra is seething with impatience, despite knowing that her troops are by far making the fastest response of the Horde. They should still be faster, they’ve been complacent from years of always making the first move. While Catra is busy chewing out the stragglers she thinks vengefully of the new response exercises they’ll drilling as soon as the battle is over. It gives her something to do besides agonize over Scorpia. She can’t lose her. She can’t, she can’t.

The ride over to the outpost passes in a blur. The second they arrive Catra leaps off her skiff and waves her soldiers in to attack. The fort is in chaos. Scorpia clearly had been overwhelmed from the start, and the ramparts have already fallen to the Rebellion forces. As Catra gets closer, she realizes that inner buildings have also been compromised, and some of Scorpia’s troops are trying to flee. Catra seizes one unfortunate enough to be running right by her.

“How dare you abandon your post and your commander? What is the current situation? I want a report, now!” Catra yells into the man’s helmet, shaking him for emphasis. 

“We didn’t have any warning! They took all of the guards down with vines, and by the time we realized we were under attack, they were already inside our walls.”

“Where is Force Captain Scorpia?” Catra snarls. 

“I-I don’t know. It isn’t natural, what the princesses can do! We didn’t have a chance, I swear,” the man stammers.

Catra does not have time for excuses. She drops the man and runs in. She sees She-Ra at the front entrance, bodily tossing out more Horde soldiers. 

“Adora! Come face me you backstabbing coward,” Catra shouts, not in the mood to be coy. 

As per usual, She-Ra doesn’t listen to her, but turns and runs back inside the building. Catra’s attempt to follow is immediately thwarted by yet more of these stupid princesses. This time it’s that awful fish one and the plant one. They make a disgustingly good team, and as one drenches Catra with a jet of water the other directs a torrent of vines to knock her back. She dodges them nimbly and is almost free when a sudden instinct directs her to turn around. Glimmer has popped up directly behind her, and the last thing Catra sees is her staff bearing down on her head. As it makes contact Catra’s vision explodes into stars, and then everything goes black.

She wakes up slowly in the infirmary back in the Fright Zone. As soon as she moves she is hit by a intense wave of nausea and a blinding pain from the side of her head. Entrapta springs into view to hold her down.

“Hold still, you aren’t ready to get up yet,” Entrapta says.

“What happened?” Catra has to close her eyes against the glare of the overhead lights. 

“The Whispering Woods fort fell to the Rebellion yesterday. Some of your soldiers were able to pull you to safety. They had to carry you back.”

Catra’s eyes fly open. “What happened to Scorpia?”

“Scorpia never came back out. Her soldiers said she refused to retreat, and the last time they saw her, she was completely surrounded by the Rebellion forces,” Entrapta says, eyes bright with tears.

Catra sags back into her cot. Scorpia was her one true ally, and Catra failed her utterly. Scorpia wouldn’t not come back to the Fright Zone unless she didn’t have a choice. Which means she’s now either a captive of the Rebellion, or they murdered her outright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: You know that feeling when an unfriendly cat comes over to you and actually wants attention? Scorpia was very, very excited that she got to pet Catra.


	3. Burn it Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra continues to struggle with adjusting the Horde to the re-energized Rebellion, until the responsibility is taken out of her hands.

Catra spends a little more time interrogating Entrapta before painfully retreating back to her room. Apparently, she had been awake for much of the previous evening, angry and wanting to go back to the fight, but Catra can’t actually remember most of this. It’s extremely unsettling. She has to remind herself repeatedly that the battle is long over and that racing back out to try to find Scorpia won’t end well.

Admittedly, Catra is also not in the best state for a rescue mission. Even the dim green lights of the hallways annoy her as she makes her way through them. Once safely back in her own room she huddles under a pile of blankets in the dark to stew. Her thoughts chaff at her, but she feels too fuzzy to focus on plotting any particular revenge. She can’t seem to get comfortable, despite her voluminous collection of pillows and coverlets. 

Her bedding is in complete violation of Horde ordinance, but it isn’t as though she actually stole much of it. When Catra had gone through Adora’s old stuff she decided it wasn’t worth the effort to shred everything, so a few useful items had migrated to her new officer’s quarters. (The fact that Adora’s pillow initially still smelled like her was not a factor. Catra has more trouble justifying keeping the pilfered jar of jam she found in Adora’s locker. It came with a spoon, because Adora had apparently been eating out of it. Adora’s eating habits are disgusting, seriously what the fuck, Adora?)

Catra is forced to sulk in her room for much of the next week before she finally feels mostly recovered. The Rebellion had thankfully been fairly quiet in the interim, but her first day back on duty coincides with a bizarre event. A pair of guards patrolling the northwest outskirts of the Fright Zone reported coming across princesses Frosta and Perfuma hacking their way into some of the electrical wiring. As soon as the guards spotted them the two renegades had immediately turned tail and ran back to the Whispering Woods.

Catra inspects the area herself. The pair did minimal damage, and even if they had, the area they targeted was of little strategic importance. Catra doubles the number of guards on the western border. A few days after that, some commoner rebels are found pouring sand into tank engines, again close to the Fright Zone borders. Infuriatingly, none of them are caught. Catra calls a troop assembly for all of the units assigned to the western Horde territory and yells at them for several hours to remind them that guard duty is actually important and not just a boring chore. 

The next attack winds up being to the south in the oil fields. The obnoxious would-be sea captain of the Rebellion is only spied during his retreat. He single-handedly sets an astonishing twenty of the oil rigs ablaze in less than ten minutes, and escapes without a scratch. The ensuing fire-fight consumes a huge amount of resources and coats the entire southern Fright Zone in a noxious black smoke far worse than the usual smog. By now, Catra knows exactly what the Rebellion is up to. 

The other officers are less than threatened by the guerrilla tactics, busy hatching a plan to retake the northern fort and finish the conquest of Perfuma’s lands. Catra is given little choice but to post yet more guards and tighten security. It’s exhausting for the Horde soldiers and it grates at Catra to play into the Rebellion’s games. It isn’t until the third week of the raids that a band of rebels is caught by patrolling troops, and Octavia orders all ten of them to be shot while Catra is distracted on the far side of the Fright Zone. 

When Catra arrives on scene and finds ten rebel corpses hanging from the outer walls and not a single one left to interrogate she flies into a rage. It’s so senseless. They have prison yards for a reason, right? It takes more than a few soldiers to pull her away from Octavia, and Catra burns for a chance at a real fight. Later, Octavia smugly accuses Catra of treacherous sympathies before Hordak. Catra can take only the hollowest of satisfaction from Octavia’s blackened eye as she protests the slander. No one actually believes that Catra is a traitor, but none of the officers are particularly respectful of her need for intel either.

The following night a chillingly cold and blinding fog rolls out of the Whispering Woods and leeches into the Fright Zone. Catra can tell immediately that it isn’t natural, but she’s so angry at the Horde command staff she doesn’t take any action beyond putting the guard rotation on notice. She creeps to the wall where the bodies dangle and watches as they are cut down one by one. 

The mist is so dense that she can barely make out the shapes, but a sudden gust of wind clears the fog enough that she can see that one of figures at work is Adora’s fawning archer sidekick. He is much grimmer than usual, and as the breeze hits, he looks up and by some misfortune makes direct eye contact with Catra. Bow lets out a shout of alarm and immediately more of the fog is cleared to reveal a whole party of princesses crouched below the ramparts. 

The mist appears to be under the control of Frosta and Mermista, who are standing in the center of a protective circle. None of them say a word. Their faces are a mixture of grief and rage, but since Adora is not among them, Catra is less than interested in engaging. She stares down at them all, tail twitching, for several uneasy seconds, and then melts back into the buildings. She doesn’t bother sounding any alarm.

In the morning, Catra fiercely regrets her inaction. The princesses had not contented themselves with retrieving their own dead but had spirited away a matching ten Horde soldiers from their guard posts. Catra curses herself for her naivety that all but surely will result in her own soldiers’ deaths, if they haven’t already been executed. The rebels had also left a painted message on the outer walls, proclaiming “RISE ETHERIA.” As Catra leads a team of troops in scrubbing it away, she swears it will be the last time she affords the Rebellion the slightest leeway.

*** 

The weeks drag on, endless and depressingly similar. Catra blames the approach of winter and miserable cold on her inability to find motivation, but the truth is, the Horde is a grim place to be without company. The Rebellion raids continue, albeit much more cautiously and now with the consistent aid of magic. The rebels retreat readily and are often barely able to damage anything. The only real damage is to troop morale. Catra can’t allow the guerillas open access to the Fright Zone, so she has to maintain heavy patrols. Between the extra duties and the constant threat of attack, her troops are sullen and exhausted.

Catra has known for a long time that Force Captains don’t care about how the regular soldiers feel, but she always thought that once she was in charge she’d be able to change things. But she’s found that second in command is more an honorary title than anything else. The officers who are really in charge are whichever ones have most recently managed to catch Hordak’s interest. The current fixation is still on either retaking the northern fort or recapturing Adora, which is so stupid Catra barely has words for it. Without Scorpia Catra doesn’t have a single ally and when she brings up the foot soldiers’ condition she is met with laughter. It doesn’t matter how the troops feel, it only matters that they obey.

Altogether, Catra is itching for a real fight. She knows her soldiers need it too. The rebels’ heavy use of magic has made them jumpy and superstitious, ready to interpret any change of weather as a portent for attack. The handful of insurrectionists Catra has captured (and securely imprisoned) do little to assuage their fears. They need an honest, out in the open battle to remind themselves the enemy is still flesh and bone.

It takes another week or so, but finally reports come in that the Rebellion is moving on the southern outpost. Catra seizes the responsibility of leading their response.

*** 

The fort is located just outside the bottom reaches of the Whispering Woods and guards the beginning of the great expanse of the southern farm and grasslands. Catra rallies her gathered battalions inside the fort and leads them out the gates when the Rebellion forces show themselves at last on the outskirts of the forest.

Once the battle is engaged Catra bypasses the rebel militias and goes looking for a real challenge. She finds She-Ra dawdling still inside the woods, attempting to move some equipment wagons from where they are caught on a tangle of exposed tree roots. Catra leaps into view, wondering as she does if She-Ra will try to avoid her yet again.

She-Ra turns and looks directly at her. “Hello, Catra,” she says. Catra feels a surge of some nameless, hungry emotion welling up in her. She knew Adora wouldn't be able to ignore her forever. Adora isn't capable of letting go like that.

“Hey Adora,” Catra says, “I knew you missed me. Have you decided you aren't too afraid to fight me yourself, after all?”

“Maybe I have,” She-Ra says, “Why don't you try and catch me and find out?” She-Ra turns back to the forest and darts away, running faster than Catra would expect for a lumbering eight foot tall oaf. Catra blinks for a second, caught off guard. Then she smirks. She-Ra might be faster than she looks, but she's no match for Catra on foot. Catra lopes after her.

Her hesitation costs her initially, but she catches glimpses of She-Ra through the trees, and quickly gains on her. Finally, Catra leaps over some tangled bushes that She-Ra had crashed right through and skids to a halt triumphantly. She-Ra has paused on the other side and is bent over with her hands on her knees, panting.

“Tired already, Adora?” Catra says. “Pity you have to move all of those muscles around, it must be a lot of work.”

“It is actually,” says She-Ra, breathlessly. Then she straightens up a little and nods over Catra's shoulder. Catra whips around, but she's too slow.

From right behind her, where he must have teleported with Glimmer's help, Bow shoots an arrow directly at her. She leaps to one side, but he was much too close, and the arrow hits her and explodes into ropes. Catra is quick to start shredding them, but as she moves, another figure comes out of the bushes.

It's that irritating princess Netossa. Predictably, she tosses a ball at Catra that transforms into a constricting net. Catra would roll her eyes if she could, but she's too busy flailing. She-Ra strides up, and with the help of her companions, she swiftly ties off the loose ropes. They also secure an end to a branch about Catra’s head, so that the most she can do is squirm in a furious circle.

“You trapped me, Adora?” she snarls. “You couldn't defeat me on your own, so you resorted to trickery?”

“That's right,” She-Ra says. She has the nerve to sound bored again, and is no longer looking at Catra directly. Glimmer steps to her side, and they clasp hands and disappear in a puff of sparkles.

“Two force captains down, four to go!” Bow says, and high fives Netossa.

“Is this what happened to Scorpia?” Catra says, outraged. “You couldn't face her honestly, so you lured her away and trapped her? Where is she? Did you slaughter her while she was defenseless?”

“No, calm down, we didn't kill her!” Bow exclaims, annoyed. “Princess Scorpia is fine, we have her locked up. Also, what do we care about facing you people honestly? We're trying to stop your invasion.”

“We're winning too,” says Netossa. “Once we take out your officers, we'll be able to isolate Hordak himself.”

“You'll never win! You'll never defeat the Horde! And you have SUCH a stupid name!” Catra yowls. Unfortunately, she does not get to share any further insights, because just then Glimmer reappears.

“You just stay put, and we'll be back for you later,” says Bow, and then Glimmer puffs away with both him and Netossa.

After indulging in some time spent screaming in rage, Catra finds she can do nothing to escape the ropes around her, try as she might. She isn't even able to stand up, so she thrashes about on the ground, grinding mud into her clothing and snarling. In the distance, the sounds of battle carry on without her.

It takes hours before anyone comes back for her. By this point she has completely exhausted herself and can do little more than bare her teeth and hiss when Adora’s little gang wanders back into the clearing. Adora is back in her own body and looking battered. Amidst an assortment of scrapes and bruises, Catra is gratified to see Adora has deep shadows under her eyes. Adora had better be having trouble sleeping at night.

“Catra, by the authority granted to me by Queen Angella and the Bright Moon Council, I hereby place you under arrest for aiding and abetting the Horde,” Adora recites stiffly. “You will be given a fair trial and you have the right to seek representation. Until such time as a trial can be held you will be held as prisoner of the Rebellion. A detailed list of the charges against you and your rights under the Princess Alliance Accords will be provided to you.”

“You’re arresting me? What the hell Adora!” Catra watches in disbelief as Adora turns and walks away from her without answering. “Hey! HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?”

“Okay! Well, how about we loosen some of these ropes and you come along with us now,” Bow says brightly.

“I’d rather be dragged than cooperate with you!” Catra says.

“Wow, what a surprise,” Glimmer says. “Good thing we brought the litter.”

Catra screeches angrily as the pair roll her onto a litter and continues to vent her displeasure as they carry her off.

“Ugh, this is why we should have grabbed her the first time I knocked her out. Then we wouldn’t have to listen to this,” Glimmer says.

“It was impossible, her soldiers rallied immediately,” Bow says. “But I agree, it’s too bad you can’t whack her again. Once we make it back to the main camp, we’ll throw her in a wagon and with any luck we won’t have to see her again until the trial!” 

As a final note of cosmic injustice, Catra’s efforts to make the journey as difficult as possible are hampered by her exhaustion from her previous struggles, and her voice is little more than a croak by the time they join the rest of their forces and heave her into the aforementioned wagon.


End file.
